Data connectivity, particularly Internet access, has become a critical demand of both households and businesses in today's world. Many existing communication networks were not designed and implemented to carry today's data traffic, instead being designed with the intention of carrying telephonic voice traffic. One problem with prior generation systems is the limited data capacity of the telephone lines that terminate in most homes and businesses, typically limited to the amount of data necessary to reasonably carry a voice telephone call. Further, telephonic switches often create a bottleneck in the system, and adding additional switches can be expensive. Moreover, the switches were not designed for the longer call lengths typical for data connections. The circuit-based technology of the existing telephony system was developed to handle analog transmission of voice telephone calls, rather than the digital connection better suited to the packet-based transmission of data.
Nevertheless, the “dial-up” Internet connection has become a fixture of computing life. While this form of accessing the Internet by dialing over existing switched circuit-based telephone lines faces numerous limitations, it is readily available to virtually all households and businesses in the United States, as well as many regions abroad. Dial-up Internet access provides slow data transmission speeds, making Internet usage a frustrating experience. Dial-up Internet access also occupies the phone line used for the connection, thereby interfering with the line's ability to place and receive voice calls. Even the process of initiating a dial-up Internet connection using a computer modem can be a source of frustration to some users. However, the wide spread availability of dial-up Internet access has made dial-up service extremely common, even if its shortcomings make it less than popular with users.
Numerous attempts have been made to provide higher speed, superior data connections for home and business use. The provisions of such a connection, particularly for home use with limited budgets, can be daunting. One attempted solution is digital subscriber lines, or DSLs. A DSL connection uses a telephone line to provide an extremely high data transmission rate, and a continuous connection, but faces several obstacles. First, the geographical distance that a DSL line can extend from a central office is sharply limited. This limitation renders many consumers wishing to access the Internet outside of the reach of this technology. Additionally, technical difficulties and the high cost of installing DSL servers have limited its potential.
Integrated services digital network connections, or ISDN connections, are another attempt to use the existing telephony system to provide higher speed data connections. While ISDNs do provide a very high rate of data transfer in its connection, they require a user to place a data call, much as with a dial-up connection. While the rate of data exchange in that dial-up call is higher than for a standard telephone connection, the inconvenience of performing the dial-up remains, as does the stress placed upon the switch system in the telephonic network. Not all telephone equipment is suitable for use with an ISDN connection, which often requires expensive equipment upgrades before an ISDN connection can be contemplated. As with DSL service, ISDN service also suffers from limited reach. Even when put together, ISDN and DSL services leave many outside of their reach.
Attempts to provide data connectivity outside of the traditional telephony network have met with mixed results. Data connections using cable television lines can provide a very high speed connection, but are only available to cable television subscribers. Furthermore, data connections using cable telephone lines require special equipment to send and receive signals. While the data connection speed over a cable television line is, theoretically, rather high, the actual speed experienced by a user varies dramatically depending upon the number of users accessing the Internet via a particular cable television trunk. If a user resides in a neighborhood with a high percentage of cable television data usage, all users' performance will suffer. Cable television data connections can also provide additional computer security concerns over and above the concerns experienced by the typical user of dial-up, DSL, or ISDN services.
Another recent, but not entirely satisfactory, method of providing a higher speed data connection is to use a satellite signal to transmit data to a user. These connections are often limited in that data may be transmitted from a satellite to the user, but not from the user to the satellite. Instead, data transmitted by the user must be transmitted via traditional telephone lines, thereby requiring the user to dial-up a service provider and occupy a telephone line while on the Internet. Such satellite connections are often problematic in that the data link can suffer degradation or total loss due to meteorological and atmospheric conditions. Installing, setting up and maintaining the satellite equipment can also be difficult.
None of the above discussed high speed alternatives to dial-up data connection have significantly supplanted dial-up Internet access for the majority of Internet users. While most can function well within the narrow parameters in which they can be ideally implemented, all are sharply limited by factors such as geographic range, complexity, cost of installation, and real world performance considerations. A need exists for a data connection solution that provides a high speed data connection relative to conventional dial-up service and that provides a constant, always on connection that can also reach the vast majority of all telephone customers. Additionally, such a system should work in harmony with existing components of the telephony system to deliver data and, where appropriate, voice services to users. Such a system should not add to the congestion to the telephony switching system and should be simple and inexpensive to implement and install.